Where Have I Been?

A lot of people have been surprised at my absence from various venues (e-mail, blogs, social sites, etc). I’ve been busy. I’ve been really, really busy. First, I’ve been bombarded with school related stuff. My lecture readings are starting to interfere with my research. I have an essay due for my Film and Religion class on Monday and by no later than Tuesday I have an essay due to my advisor. Both of these essays are about films. The Film and Religion essay is about Dead Man Walking and my essay for my advisor is about all the nun/Joan of Arc films I could watch in two weeks and read articles/reviews on. So I have been spending most of my days in the media lab (9AM-4PM) and then coming home and watching more nun related films or vegging out so bad by playing Mario Galaxy on the Wii.

To add to that stressful bit of life, I also have several projects going on outside of my research. I have a paper submission to peer review for the Forum Journal publication that I joined. The peer review is due by February 14. I also have to get together with Jack and Keith to learn how to do the coding behind the site for publication, because Keith is leaving this year. Then there is also the Forum Conference that we’ve been working on. Submissions for that come rolling in on February 14. The conference is at the end of the semester, but once the submissions come in, we’ll be reviewing and forming things. I also created two big other projects for myself: the Post-Graduate Film Group and the Student Film Event. The PG-FG was a side project that I’ve been working on off and on and the Master’s students were all excited about it. My problem is, the Master’s students are literally being lazy about it. They all want this group and screenings and blah blah blah, but most of them seem aloof from putting in the effort. I don’t need a PG-FG. I have Ray to watch movies with. So I’m really doing it for them to keep them involved and exposing some of them to things they may not do on their own. But I am stuck leading the whole thing, which is a pain in my butt, because I have other things I need to be dedicating myself to. And to add to this barrage of tasks flowing from my own personal Pandora’s Box is the Student Film Event.

Last Sunday I went to the Hitchfest Fundraiser at the Brass Monkey:
“A series of film shorts will be shown by filmmaker Teale Failla, recently returned from showing her work in Amsterdam.

• A number of artists will be displaying their work in various mediums. All prints will be for sale.

• A variety of musical performances by local artists.

• A raffle for a print of each artist's work and free dinner for 2 at Suzie's Diner and free lunch for 2 at The Nile Café!

• Pints and people and good times lounging on the cushions at the Brass Monkey Pub where we have rented out the back room.

WHY: This coming March we (Helena and Mike) are hitchhiking from Edinburgh to Morocco to raise money for education in rural Africa with Link Community Development (a registered charity) (http://www.lcd.org.uk/). All door and raffle proceeds from this event will go to the charity and half or more of the proceeds from art sales will also be donated!

*To donate directly to the charity go to www.justgiving.com/mikeandhelena”

Teale and I were talking about supporting people’s work, because she is a filmmaker and I am all about helping undiscovered people share their work with the world. I mean, goodness, I helped an old staff member for Smart-Popcorn get into the Top 25 of a screenwriting contest, because I referred him the link, remembering he was into screenwriting. My friend Rachel got a job because of her reviews on Picture Show Pundits and how spiffy her boss thought the site was. Another staff member, Brian Johnson, got a local critic gig, I’d like to think because of some of the help Ray and I have offered over the years. And Nate’s Edwin J. Hill show we share all over the place with people, because we hope they get a break. We’re just wondering when our break is going to finally come.

So back to the topic. I was telling her how I love supporting people and their work and she said we should try to do something for the people who have made movies in our department. I said that’d be great and I e-mailed my advisor about it. My advisor was thrilled with the idea and now I have another project on my plate. . . arranging a mini-film-festival for local student filmmakers.

I have also been preparing for the Attractive Edinburgh Treasure Hunt hosted through the International Student Center. I teamed up with Maria, Nat and her friend to create the Hogwarts International team. It’s essentially a picture scavenger hunt through certain areas of Edinburgh. We had to come up with outfits and everything. We ordered Hogwarts House badges off of E-Bay CHEAP and I had to get a Gryffindor scarf. Then we had to create our team signs. And that particular event is today and it’s going to take up the bulk of my day. Who knows, maybe I’ll have pictures later.

Also, I’ve been trying to plan for the Carbisdale Castle trip. It is an overnight trip on February 16-17 and it costs 45pounds, but is being led by Wild-in-Scotland. I hope Maria was serious about going and I hope I have enough money to spend on that particular event. Then next Saturday is Pitlochry and the distillery. So I have to get tickets for that.

Ray has been applying for jobs, but here in Scotland you don’t get jobs like you do in the States. They post job openings months in advance of even needing someone. So when you apply, they won’t even get back to you for 3-4 weeks!!! And they “compile” lists of people to interview and all that extravagant crap. So while he waits he’s been working on his movie grades and catching up with all the movies we missed this past year. It’s been a lot of movies. I think he is already feeling motivated about PSP again, but won’t feel complete until he has completely caught up on films.

But now it is time for me to get ready to go. I am so excited about the Treasure Hunt. I’ve seen other treasure hunts before and they look like so much fun. I just wonder if it’ll take the whole 5 hours or if that includes the after party. I hope it includes the after party, because I have so much stuff to do. I’ll write something up about the treasure hunt as soon as I can WITH PICTURES!